In my opinion technology is a positive force on our lives. Technology is the reason that the human species as a whole is living an incredibly improved life than that of even 100 years ago. Technology is the reason why global life expectancy has skyrocketed while at the same time the number of stillbirths has greatly decreased. Technology is the reason a person in New York can talk to a person in India face to face while thousands of miles apart. Granted the benefits of technology are obvious, however a true discussion of technology cannot be complete without some examination of its negative effects. Though technology has done wonders for improving human life it certainly has had some impact on the global environment as whole. That being said, in my opinion any degradation that is caused by improper usage of technology has the potential to be corrupted by different uses of new and constantly improving technologies. A clear example of this is the depletion of the ozone layer. Because humans enjoyed air conditioners and hairspray the usage of CFCs that were an integral part of both items, as well as many others, increased dramatically. Unbeknownst at the time CFCs were incredibly destructive to the ozone layer. This led to the formation of a hole above Antarctica. After knowledge of this was presented mankind used technology to find new substances to replace CFCs drastically reducing the number of CFC in the air. Granted this does not actually reduce the size of the hole, as some damage has already been done, but this shows how technology can adapt and evolve to solve issues.
Technology is not perfect but technology as a whole has benefits to the human race that greatly outweigh any and all potential detriments. People cite technology as one of the leading sources for environmental problems throughout the world, but realistically speaking technology is our best way of solving any and all of these problems. On top of that, once a technology is introduced to the world it is nearly impossible to take away. You cannot ask someone to give up their cell phones and computers and expect them to oblige. We have grown dependent on technology, yet through this dependency we have been able to revolution the way we live our lives, taking the human race to an all time high.
I agree with this post wholeheartedly. Technology is so revered in our society/civilization/species because it has improved our lives for the whole of our existence. Even the least technologically advanced cultures on earth benefit from it and I am not referring to computers. Whether it has provided us with improved housing, ways to nourish ourselves, or keeping us safe from predators, technology has generally been a positive aspect in our existence. Now, I will not say that everything that results from technological advancement is a positive. There are indeed many negatives, such as our more efficient ways of killing each other, not to mention the environment. But in the aggregate, technology has been a positive.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to where technology fits in our response to deteriorating environmental conditions, I believe it needs to stand at the forefront. In a way, technology has brought us to this problem and it is needed to take us out. This may sound a bit hypocritical given my last paragraph, but I mean the misuse of technology is what has caused this. With regards to CO2 emissions, alternative energies could have been developed much earlier, cars could be powered by something other than gas or at least be more fuel-efficient, light bulbs could have been more efficient before, etc. But it is the fault of humans for not advancing technology when it needed to be, ala Reagan removing Carter’s solar panels on the White House. We have to use technology because our only other option is simplifying our lives, something that we are socialized against. It would take way too long to socialize our future generations to live with less than we have. The use of technology will be much faster and time is not a luxury at our disposal. That and almost no one will be convinced to move back into caves and start fire with sticks and stones.